The Spooky Season begins

 

Well, October has arrived and with it comes a month of Fall colors and spooky season fun.  I'm not really into being scared, but I do love the Halloween season.  I love to decorate and to join in some local Halloween fun with the girls.  So last Sunday, I headed out to the farm to pick up some of the items I needed to get started with decorating in the front yard.  

I thought it was a great idea to combine the trip to the farm with a trip to the dog park in Dewitt since they are only a couple of miles apart...forgetting that two dogs, two corn stalk bundles, and a bale of straw might not fit too well in the back of my car.  Ultimately everything and everyone fit just fine, they were just a little cozier than normal.  And I learned that Mina can make herself comfortable anywhere.

On Monday, I had a busy morning of work preparing for a big meeting on Tuesday.  It was going to be a busy couple of days with work travel and meetings, but luckily the girls were able to come along with me.  I love when the hotels we are using for our meetings are dog-friendly!  

I packed up the car and made the drive to Troy mid-afternoon on Monday to avoid traffic, and once we were settled into our room, I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up my work for the day.  The girls made the most of our hotel room and had a great wrestling match while I worked. 

Before it got too late, I found a nice park nearby to take the girls for a little adventure.  I thought this was a very sweet memorial to a lost family member.  

We took a lovely walk around Firefighter's Park and enjoyed some pretty views.  It was a warm evening and the park was full of squirrels which made it an extra fun walk for the girls.   I couldn't resist getting this picture of Mina and her super long tongue.

At the end of our walk, I was pretty proud of how nicely the girls laid down for a picture.  I think this is one of the best pictures I've ever gotten of them.

Before heading back to the car, I stopped quickly to check out the Firefighter's Memorial at the park.  What a nice spot.

After our walk, I had to make some copies at Staples and pick up my dinner before heading back to the hotel.  Once we got back to the hotel, Peaches put herself right to bed.  She definitely approved of the hotel bed.

Tuesday morning we were up extra early to prepare for the day ahead.  We got out for a 1 3/4 mile walk in the dark before breakfast, then the girls got in a little wrestling match while I got ready for work, and we took another quick 1/2 mile walk and potty break before I got the girls settled into the room for the day and headed off to work downstairs.  

The girls did an excellent job all day quietly sleeping the day away while I worked until the cleaning staff knocked on my hotel door-despite the sign that said " Pet in Room-Do not Disturb"  That disruption woke my sleeping Mina.  I could hear her barking in my room from across the atrium. Luckily the timing of that disruption was good so I could get the girls out for a quick potty break.  They settled back in the room for a bit while our meeting finished, and when the happy hour started they got to join me about mid-way through.  Both girls were very good getting to say hello to both the hotel staff and our advisors.  Mina seemed to be right at home in the middle of it all.  

After a very long and exhausting day, the girls and I needed to get out for some fresh air, so we headed back to Firefighter's park for a quick walk at sunset and then picked up some dinner on the way back to our hotel.  

The rest of our quiet evening was spent relaxing in our room, and we were all ready for bed early.  I'm so glad we don't do meetings like this more often.

I spent Wednesday morning visiting some advisor offices and catching up on work at the hotel before checking out and heading toward home.  It was another beautiful day, and was most likely our final 80 degree day of the year.  

When I got home, I spent my lunch in the garden.  I was pretty happy with my little harvest.  

After work on Wednesday I headed out to the shelter for our Wednesday night dog walking club.  While I was there, I met Coachella, a little hound mix who is shy and very nervous at the shelter.  I couldn't get her harnessed to walk her on Wednesday, but after our walk I spent about 40 minutes just sitting on the floor in her kennel with her giving her treats.  By the end of the night, she was definitely more comfortable with me.  She is such a cutie!

Thursday, the weather took a turn with cooler temperatures and rain arriving for the day.  After being stuck inside all day because of the rain, the girls were happy when I got them into the car and took them to the farmer's market.  It was pretty quiet due to the rain and several of the normal vendor's weren't there, but I was happy to still get my eggrolls and a chocolate chip cookie as well as some honey.  Only two more weeks until the market ends for the season.  What will I do with my Thursday evenings then?

We also took a walk through Soldan's before leaving to head home.  After a quick walk and a little time out in the yard, I had the girls sit in front of the fall decorations for a quick picture.  Such good girls.

The weather since Friday has gotten cooler and we've had regular rain showers mixed with some beautiful sunshine each day.  Luckily the girls could spent a lot of time outside during the day on Friday because my work day was extra busy as I finished up loose ends from my time out of the office earlier in the week and prepared for my week of vacation.  It was a boring day with no adventures.

Saturday morning, I was excited that we were able to get Coachella out of the shelter for our Saturday morning dog walking club.  With help from the shelter staff, we were able to get her harnessed and she thoroughly enjoyed her time out of the shelter.   In true hound form, she spent a lot of the walk with her nose to the ground.  This little girl is so sweet.  

After dog walking club and a couple of errands, we were ready for some fun.  Luckily Happy Feet Pet Rescue was holding their annual Howl-lo-ween event at the REO Town Marketplace.  

This is such a fun little event with vendors and some fun activities set up throughout the marketplace.    In addition to the vendors, the stores in the Marketplace handout dog treats and there is also a cute themed photo area, but I can never seem to get Peaches to calm down enough to get a picture.  Peaches' favorite part of the day is always the "pup-kin" pie eating booth and all the random strangers handing her treats.  Mina seemed to enjoy the pool full of balls, kongs, and other toys best and came home with two tennis balls from that fun.  Both girls love that they get to meet lots of other dogs.

After visiting all of the stores and vendors and partaking all of the fun, we went out to visit the few stores in REO town that were also giving out treats for the day.  This was such a typical Fall day with sunshine and moody, dark clouds in the distance.  On our final stop of the day, Mina even came nose to nose with a cat.  I wasn't sure how that would go, so for everyone's safety it was a quick stop with no picture.

The girls came how with a pretty good haul for their work.  

And I even came home with a few treats, too.

By the time we got home and had lunch, it was late afternoon.  It had been a busy day of fun, but I had had things I wanted to get done so after lunch I spent some time in the garden.  The forecast showed that temperatures would be dipping into the mid-30s over night and there was no frost warning, the weather service said that there was the chance of some patchy frost overnight.  I picked anything that was ripe or almost ripe, including the last few green beans and the final beef steak tomato of the season.

I also pulled the basil plants.  This one is currently in water waiting to be turned into pesto.  The other basil plant is in a pot in the garage so I have a little more time to deal with it.

I pulled out the plants that no longer had any veggies and did a little garden clean up before tucking in the rest of the plants for the night, just in case we got any frost.  They got covered for Sunday night too since we once again had lows in the mid-30s, and the rest of this week they are going to soak in as much sun as they can, hopefully allowing more of the tomatoes and tomatillos to ripen before the final harvest and garden clean up happens sometime in the next week or so.  

After finishing up my work in the garden, I decided to take the girls for a ride and go raspberry picking.  The u-pick raspberry farm is on the other side of town, and I've been wanting to get out there to pick a few pints of raspberries.  With the end of the season near, it was time for me to finally do just that.

On our way there, I noticed the clouds getting darker, and I ended up in the raspberry patch during a light rain, but I was prepared so it was no big deal.  I was the only crazy person out in the patch late in the day while it was sprinkling, so I think my timing was perfect. 

The berries were beautiful with so many left on the vines to still ripen.  I picked 5 pints of berries and then called it a day.  While that doesn't seem like a lot of berries, it is the perfect amount for me to eat some fresh over the next couple of days and then freeze the rest for something delicious this winter.    I just have to say that these are some delicious little berries!

The weather for Sunday was supposed to start out sunny with the potential for some rain to move in in the afternoon.   I wanted to get the girls out before any rain could move in and I wanted them to be well-exercised for my busy afternoon.  I decided that a trip to the dog park was the perfect thing to make sure they got lots of exercise and had some fun, plus it gave me an excuse to stop by the farm for some of their fresh made doughnuts.  While there we met Molly, a three year old GSP who loves to play frisbee.  There were a couple other frisbee dogs there too, and for a while Mina showed no interest in the Frisbees-she is ball lover after all, but something about Molly's frisbee got her interested, and soon after Peaches got involved with the frisbee fun too.  Santa may need to bring them each a Kong Frisbee for Christmas.

Mina had some good rounds of fetch and chase with Molly and Peaches spent lots of time exploring the park like she always does.  It was a good start to the day.

After a quick stop at the farm for a bushel of sweet corn, which I'm splitting with Vanessa, and some warm strawberry doughnuts with vanilla glaze, and a quick stop for a short walk at the Capitol Building, it was time to get home to get to work with my long list of to-dos. 

The rest of the day I was busy cleaning, paying bills, organizing, and starting to work on the final prep for all of the fruits and veggies I currently have, all while watching the Lions game.  I also finished up my Fall decorating which needed a few final touches. I still have lots to do with the veggies and fruits, but that work will be done over the next couple of days.  I felt like I had an extremely productive day and when I sat down for a quick break before dinner, I ended up with a puppy snuggled up on my lap.  I decided that was my sign that I had done enough for the day and settled in for a relaxing evening.

I have this week off from work and have lots of things I plan to get done while I'm off.  The decision to stay home for a big part of the week wasn't an easy one for me because I really wanted to head North, but I have so much to get done that it just made more sense to use this time to be productive.  I promised myself that we would also get out for some fun and we do have a short trip planned later in the week which should be fun.  Meanwhile, I'm off to get to work on making veggie stock, applesauce and apple butter, and some sauces with the tomatoes, in addition to freezing tomatillos and raspberries.  The freezer is slowly filling up with a bounty of goodness for the Winter.  Temperatures are barely going to make it to 50 today, so it seems like the perfect day to just stay home.  Hopefully the girls will forgive me for not taking them on any big adventure.

I will end with this cute video of Fiona which Nicol sent to me earlier this week.  She is loving the Halloween season and all of the fun decorations.  Her new favorite word is "spooky."  She is such a character!

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I look forward to sharing more of our Fall and Spooky season fun with you next week!